Home Media Magazine - February 16-22, 2009 - (Page 11) www.homemediamagazine.com ELECTRONIC DELIVERY BRIEFS I JAMAN JOINS FACEBOOK Online entertainment destination Jaman has teamed with social site Facebook. The agreement allows Facebook users to sign into their Jaman accounts without having to set up a new registration. The service, called Facebook@ Connect, tells Facebook users which of their friends are on Jaman, and puts reviews and movie-watching activities on Facebook. “Through Facebook Connect, we are able to significantly enhance how people are discovering and enjoying entertainment,” said Jaman CEO and founder Gaurav Dhillon. – Chris Tribbey Vudu Cuts Web Movie Player Price 50% Consumer awareness and demand helped pull the price down By Erik Gruenwedel iting market forces, videoon-demand (VOD) set-top box provider Vudu has reduced the price of its high-definition player to $149 from $299. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based technology company said technological advances, as well as greater consumer awareness and demand for digital distribution of entertainment from the Internet to the television, contributed to the price cuts. “The combination of these factors has enabled us to lower the price and bring it within reach of more consumers,” said Edward Lichty, EVP of strategy at Vudu. Contributing factors not mentioned likely include recent $100 movie set-top boxes and services offered by Blockbuster Inc. and Netflix — the latter gaining traction when Microsoft said DOWNLOADTO-OWN February 11, 2009 LABEL RANK TITLE 1 Madagascar: Escape … Para./DW 2 Made of Honor 4 W. Sony Pictures 3 Zack and Miri Make … Genius Lionsgate 5 10 Things I Hate About You Disney Source: iTunes RANK C RENTAL DOWNLOADS February 11, 2009 LABEL TITLE 1 Eagle Eye 3 The House Bunny 4 Burn After Reading 5 Pride and Glory Para./DW 2 The Secret Life of Bees Fox Sony Pictures Universal Warner Source: iTunes I APPLE TO BOW SERVICE THAT STREAMS ANYWHERE Apple is reportedly planning to launch a media streaming service with iTunes 8 that would let users stream their purchased videos anywhere they’re logged in, according to several reports. The new service is being called “iTunes Replay” and would support both movie and TV show purchases. Through this service, Apple TV users would no longer have to sync purchases to the device or download them to a computer first before streaming them – Angelique Flores to the TV. I REALNETWORKS TEAMS WITH VERIZON VCAST Digital entertainment services company RealNetworks is now the power behind Verizon Wireless’ V Cast Video service. The service transitioned to Real’s platform — based on Helix technology and customized specifically to meet Verizon’s needs — in January –Angelique Flores 2009. 1 million Xbox Live subscribers High-definition titles are streamed had downloaded content from in two formats: instant-start HD Netflix’s Instant and HDX. The VBX100 box plays Watch streaming movies in 1080p resolution at 24 frames a second, including stanservice. Indeed, by 2012, dard-definition titles, which it up70% of the set-top converts. The company said it was also box market is expected to include high- reducing the price of the Vudu definition and/or XL, its proprietary home theater digital video record- device that can store up to 500 ers, up from 35% in movies and is sold through pro2007 and underscor- fessional custom installers, to ing consumer demand for time-shift- $499. Earlier this month, Vudu bowed ed entertainment and HD, according an application that allows Apple to iSuppli Corp. Vudu says it has a total of more iPod Touch and iPhone users to than 13,000 VOD titles in its library, browse and download movies to including standard-definition fare. their homes. Week ended February 8, 2009 RANK DOWNLOADTO-OWN LABEL TITLE 1 The Dark Knight 2 … Traveling Pants 2 Warner Warner 3 Star Wars: The Clone Wars Warner 4 Without a Paddle: Nature’s … Paramount 5 Speed Racer Warner Source: CinemaNow Week ended February 8, 2009 RANK RENTAL DOWNLOADS LABEL TITLE 1 Eagle Eye 2 Wall-E 3 Ghost Town 4 The House Bunny Para./DW Disney Para./DW Sony Pictures DirecTV Profit Down Only Slightly By Chris Tribbey irecTV profit in its fourth quarter of 2008 declined by 5%, to $332 million, compared to the same period in 2007, but company president and CEO Chase Carey pointed out that the company is doing well considering the current economic conditions. DirecTV netted more than 460,000 new subscribers worldwide in the fourth quarter, 301,000 of those in the United States, the company said Feb. 10 when it reported its fourth-quarter 2008 results. The nation’s biggest satellite company saw its revenue increase 9% during the quarter to $5.31 billion. “Clearly DirecTV’s strong brand and message of offering the best television experience in America is resonating with consumers as we RANK DIGITAL COPY BY CATEGORY Title Release Category New Theatrical (1997-Current) Direct-to-video Features Theatrical Catalog (pre-1997) Foreign Language TV Series (single-disc) Total Total* 100 17 11 1 1 130 D saw the best quarterly net subscriber growth in over three years,” he said. “Despite the more challenging economic and competitive landscape, we remained sharply focused on attaining higher quality subscribers.” Carey pointed to increased promotions as the cause of the jump in subscribers. For all of 2008, the company posted a profit of $2.7 billion on revenue of nearly $20 billion. 5 The Mummy: Tomb … Universal Source: CinemaNow Week ended February 8, 2009 TITLE LABEL DOWNLOADTO-OWN VuNow Video Service Opens to OEMs By Chris Tribbey alifornia-based Verismo Networks is hoping an open market is a profitable one. The Internet video company announced Feb. 10 that it’s opening its VuNow Internet TV platform to consumer original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), such as standalone players, Internetenabled TVs and other home media devices. The hope, the company said, is that consumer electronics companies, Internet service pro- 1 Fireproof 2 Underworld: Evolution 3 W. Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Lionsgate DIGITAL COPY BY STUDIO Studio Fox Sony Warner Lionsgate Universal Paramount/DreamWorks Disney Peace Arch Prairie Dog Productions Total Total* 40 37 21 9 8 5 5 4 1 130 C * Includes both titles released and announced for delivery by 5/31/09 Source: The DVD Release Report viders and content aggregators will latch on to VuNow and offer it to their consumers. VuNow operates by pulling free video from all over the Web into one service. “An open platform is fundamental to our success,” said Verismo EVP Dhaval Ajmera. “Our OEM initiative fosters the development of differentiated products by OEMs worldwide, thereby offering consumers compelling choices for entertainment in their living room.” 4 Dexter: Season 2 Ep. 12 Showtime Sony Pictures 5 Open Season 2 Source: Blockbuster Inc. Week ended February 8, 2009 RANK RENTAL DOWNLOADS LABEL TITLE 1 Eagle Eye 3 Max Payne 4 Pride and Glory Para./DW 2 The Secret Life of Bees Fox Fox Warner Sony Pictures 5 The House Bunny Source: Blockbuster Inc. February 16–22, 2009 Home Media Magazine 11 http://www.homemediamagazine.com
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